This nurse took a hotel giant to court over discrimination. A new play tells her story

Françoise Baylis can very clearly remember a reporter taking a picture of her mother while she stood in front of the fireplace in the living room of their Toronto home in 1977. Her mother's hair was straightened and pulled back, and she wore a white blouse with a colourful floral pattern at the bottom. 

Then 15, Françoise didn't know why this was happening until her mother told her about the legal battle she was fighting with a hotel in Montreal. It was over the racial discrimination she'd experienced when applying for a nursing position.

Gloria Baylis's story is now the subject of a play by rookie playwright Denée Rudder. Breaking Barriers: The Story of Gloria Baylis will premiere on Feb. 7 at the Cyril Clark Library Lecture Hall in Brampton, Ont. — a collaboration with the non-profit EnRoute 2 Success, where Rudder, who also runs her own content creation agency, sits on the board.

In 1964, Baylis inquired about a nursing position at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel (QEH) in Montreal, only to be told it was filled. After learning from a friend that the position was, in fact, still open, she filed a complaint with the help of the Negro Citizenship Association. 

The court ruled that the QEH had violated Quebec's law against discrimination in employment, went into effect the day before her inquiry, and fined Hilton of Canada a paltry $25 (roughly $250 today) plus associated costs.

"I think it's significant that [the company] doesn't just pay the fine — they fight and they fight and they fight for nearly 12 years," Françoise says.

In 1971, the QEH lost its appeal at the Superior Court of Quebec, and in 1977, the Court of Appeal of Quebec upheld the original ruling — marking the first Canadian case where an institution was found guilty of job discrimination based on race.

"We thought a play would be the best way to visualize the story," she says. "It's the first play that I've ever written." 

Rudder — whose Nova Scotian mother is a 10th-generation African Canadian and whose father is Barbadian — learned about the story from a colleague and felt connected to Baylis, who was also from Barbados. 

She adds that as a first-time playwright, there was a lot of learning on the job, and accurately portraying the mannerisms of people in the 1960s was especially challenging.

"I didn't really have a template," Rudder said. "How do I write this? How do I make sure the dialogue is correct? What kind of language are people using at this time?"

Rudder spoke to two of Baylis's other children, Frank and Peter John, about the memories they have of their mother. Once the script was finished, Rudder sent a copy to both of them for their approval. She also met and spoke with Françoise, Baylis's eldest living child, in Halifax. 

"I thought that that was really respectful," Françoise said of Rudder's approach. "I  thought that really speaks to a commitment to honour my mother."

The play will be performed by high school drama students in Mayfield Secondary School's regional arts program. Rudder has also received a request from the Barbados House Montreal — a Barbadian-Canadian community organization — to bring the play to the city. 

"It does feel like a lot of pressure," Rudder said. "I wanted [the play] to be perfect — and something that they can be proud of as well."

Françoise is just grateful to those who are ensuring her mother's story is remembered. She said it is really hard to see an important piece of Canadian history take so long to become common knowledge, and there's still more work to be done. 

She's faced many challenges herself while gathering information about her mother and says it should be preserved as part of the historical record.

"When I asked at the [Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec] for a copy of the original court case, I was told it's been destroyed," she said. "How do you destroy that? How do you destroy a part of history?" The family eventually found the documents by other means.

Françoise said she believes the play conveys an important message about ongoing struggles for justice.

"I want people to take away a sense of fortitude, that it is worth standing up for whatever you believe in," she said. "Even if you think the system is against you, it's possible to win. It may take a long time, it may take a lot of energy, but it is possible, against all odds, to win."

Breaking Barriers: The Story of Gloria Baylis premieres Feb. 7 at the Cyril Clark Library Lecture Hall (20 Loafers Lake Lane) in Brampton, Ont.